Morning Muse with Dave Arnold

When Satan is More Dangerous

A preacher of long ago warned, “‘What everybody says must be true,’ is a lying proverb based upon the presumption which comes from large combinations.” 1

Several years ago, the Associated Press reported that near the town of Gava, in eastern Turkey, one sheep among a large flock walked to the edge of a cliff, and jumped to its death. A second sheep quickly imitated the first, also leaping off the cliff to its death. Then, a third sheep followed. Then a fourth. Then a fifth. The AP reported that “stunned Turkish shepherds, who had left the herd to graze while they had breakfast, watched as nearly 1,500 others followed, each leaping off the same cliff.” When it was over, 450 sheep had died, and 1,050 survived, but only because those sheep that jumped later were saved as the pile of sheep got higher, and the fall became more cushioned.

The question is, “Surely, all those sheep could not have been wrong, could they?” 2

Chrysostom said that people are, “…like men with sore eyes, they find the light painful, while the darkness, which permits them to see nothing, is restful and agreeable.”3

Isaiah’s generation said, “Do not prophesy to us right things; speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits” (30:10). “Smooth” means “pleasant, unperturbed.” Though they knew Isaiah was telling them the truth, and that judgment was coming, they demanded, “Don’t preach anything to us that will upset the status quo or make us nervous!” 4

“Satan is more dangerous in his wiles than in his open assaults.

The angel of light is more to be feared than the roaring lion. The Church flourished under the persecutions of Nero, but succumbed to the flatteries of Constantine” (J. Oswald Sanders). 5